Tuesday, August 24, 2010

This program is broadcast on 2xxfm (98.3mhz), Tuesday 24 August 2010, at 7:00PM across the Australian Community Radio Network.

In tonight's program we have the second part of our interview with Ron Smith, football analyst extraordinaire, Elite level Coach and football national treasure. Ron has been commissioned to review the Capital Football High Performance Program. In this part Ron talks of many things but all central to the development of a talented player and in the context of a high performance program.

You always get the feeling the there is one more damn good story just around the corner when talking with or listening to Ron - and there usually is!

Friday, August 20, 2010

Its never good news to hear that a Club has decided not to go on in Football. Much less to report or write about it.

In this case, ANU FC has advised players (and Capital Football) that it will not participate in the Capital Football Premier League at the conclusion of the 2010 season. ANU FC will of course continue in Football, just not in the Premier League competition.

Its very likely that ANU FC would have withdrawn two years ago, had it not been for an inspirational proposal from the John Mitchell (a former Technical Director of Capital Football), titled the "ANU Under 20 Elite Program", which set a new standard for Football participation by Clubs, introducing as he did, a twelve month periodised program for the players. It was a very positive contribution to the conduct of Premier League football in the ACT. John attempted to address the ever present gap for our talented players post ACTAS and without an A League Youth Team. A small number of players did well out of it and others got their chance and that's a lot more than would have happened if he had not made the effort at ANU FC.

The first season (2009) was a good one. Alas, it seems to have been a hard year in 2010 for the ANU FC Premier League PPL and PL teams.

The PL16 and PL18 teams are provided by Radford College, who are now left without a Premier League Club. Whether they continue with a PL club is in the first instance, a matter for the school to decide. But one thing is certain, they have put together good teams every year, a pleasure to watch and a credit to their school.

If you go back on the Nearpost Local Blog to the interviews we conducted with John Mitchell, which covered the "talented player" and the "ANU U20 Elite concept", you quickly realise just how much thought was behind this endeavour. He was right! But being right isn't enough. John and his colleagues worked hard for the players and it must be hard for them to call it a day. No one can doubt John Mitchell's committment to football. He'll be back!

The email that was sent to me (authored by an ANU FC official) summed it this way:"...The Committee has made this decision following John Mitchell’s decision to stand down from the position of PL Coach and Technical Director. The PL Program in its current form was very much reliant upon John’s skill, experience and enthusiasm. John’s leadership of the program also allowed the club to access sponsorship which had previously been unavailable. In John’s absence the Committee does not believe it can provide the level of resources required to field a competitive PL team..."

There may be some who think that ANU FC can be quickly replaced by a couple of other teams in Canberra. I doubt it. These would be likely to be teams that did not pass muster when the PL review took place in order to award PL licences for 2010 and beyond. Why would you take them on? What's changed in their backyard since the commencement of this season? Not much is the most likely answer. No rush here is my view and perhaps we can get the PL competition up to three rounds!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

In this program we speak to David Lee, the Capital Football League Manager, about the full range of competition Futsal to be held in the ACT in the forthcoming 2010 / 2011 season (including the Nationals).

If you want to know how Futsal is organised this season, all the way from Under 5's to ACT Rep Teams for the Nationals, this interview is an absolute must!

I think you will be surprised to learnjust how quickly Futsal has grown in the last five years in the ACT. I asked David how many players participated last season and how many he anticipated would play this season. The Answer: 6,000 (+) players of all ages, no problem! Capital Football manages these competitions directly or through the orgainsing bodies, North and South Canberra Futsal Clubs. A massive task.

This is just enormous! Makes you think. Surely we have some real political clout if you take Football and Futsal as a whole. We dwarf every other sport. Surely there is real good reason for the ACT Government to get moving on new and additional faciltites for both games. Why are we so tame? What is the Capital Football Board doing to advance the cause, or are we going to spend another five years standing around admiring Hawker Enclosed or wishing we had something like the Mpower Dome? Get cracking you lot!

And let's not forget the one Futsal club from the ACT that gained entry to and competed in the NSW Supa League and did outstandingly well - Boomerangs FS. The experience for many of the Boomerangs players that gained selection in ACT Rep teams for the Nationals (and there were a lot of them!) helped their performances at Nationals enormously. There is no doubt that this is the club to join if you want to experience Futsal to a higher competition standard than is available week to week in the ACT.

Futsal is a big game that's getting big quickly!

Registration documentation can be obtained by reference to the following websites:

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

I've watched several instances of this miserable behaviour in the last three Capital Football Men's Premier League games I have watched. It is truly pathetic behaviour. I've not seen one red card handed out for it yet and some of the incidents were pretty hard too miss.

Well, it’s finally got to the stage where I have to say something. I am steadily losing my respect for the “Beautiful Game”. I am finding it difficult to enjoy watching any soccer game lately…including these World Cup games. Actually, when I think about it, it’s been bothering me for years and I suppose it has finally reached a tipping point.

I’ve had just about enough of the diving, play acting and pretending by most of the world’s top players. Let’s be clear about this, it is dishonest, it is cheating. And it is spoiling the game.

I can’t think of one game I have seen on TV in the English Premier League, Champions League, World Cup and Euro Championships, in the last 5 years where there hasn’t been a plethora of diving and play acting. Players will fake a dive in the box in the hope of being awarded a penalty kick…cheating. Players will fake being hit in the face (Kaka incident) to get other players red carded…cheating. Players will appeal to the ref for a corner or throw-in when they know for a fact, they last touched the ball before it went out…cheating. Players will roll over 3-4 times on the ground pretending to be in agony when they were barely touched and not hurt…cheating.

This cheating is pervasive in soccer and it seems more so the higher the level of play. It is ruining the beautiful game and I am losing respect for it.

This program is broadcast on 2xxfm (98.3), Tuesday 17 August 2010 across the Australian Community Radio Network.

Tonight’s program is the first in a four part series of interviews with Australian Football Sage and national treasure, Ron Smith. Ron has done the lot in football and on a world stage – player, elite level coach and football analyst of world class. Some call him the “brain’s trust” – not a bad title for this bloke.

Ron has been engaged by Capital Football to review our HPP. It couldn’t be in better hands.

When Ron comes calling to speak on the HPP or you reckon you have something that needs saying, do it. You’ll have a made a contribution to our young players, present and future.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Listen in next Tuesday at 7:00PM to 2xxfm, or go to this Blogspot and download the podcast or listen from your PC, to Part 1 of an absolutely fascinating and candid interview with eminent Australian Football Coach and football analyst, Ron Smith.

Ron Smith has been appointed to conduct the review of the Capital Football High Performance Program.

As they say "he's been everywhere man"! An absolute treasure chest of football knowledge and experience. He was on staff at the AIS the day they opened for business in the football program. And that's just the start!
The best part is that Ron just tells it the way he sees it. He doesn't blow his trumpet - but if you ask him a question, you get an answer. This is a person really worth listening to.

I reckon they should lock this bloke away in the national archives, set up a recording facility and just let him talk, it would take a while because he knows so damn much, been right in the thick of it - what a terrific history of Australian football would unfold and so much wisdom to reflect on in future years. One of our own! I'm thinking to myself - Ron Smith "National Football Treasure"!

We sat down in the 2xxfm studio this week and the intention was to talk about the task ahead - review of the HPP. Its been a pretty mixed bag the CFAcademy then the CF HPP in recent times in the ACT. Two hours later we stopped talking, we had covered the subject, not in the predictable, boring way of things, but in a fashion that seemed to me at every turn to illustrate the breadth and width of Ron Smith's football knowledge and experience. We flagged several topics that we will speak about at a future time. My head was spinning at times - so many questions to ask of Ron.

Ron Smith understands the complexities around Football and talented players better than anyone I have met in football before and make no mistake - he wants the best we can get for young Australians and are young talent in the ACT region. The review is in good hands.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

This program is broadcast on 2xxfm (98.3mhz), Tuesday at 7:00PM across the Australian Community Radio Network.

The CEO Captial Football talks about the major impediment to the development of Football as a whole of the year sport - insufficient exclusively controlled quality playing surfaces. Then it's an update on Futsal for the 2010 / 2011 season (including selection for the Nationals) and the Futsal landscape is certainly going to change in the ACT. We close with a very interesting perspective on the conflciting demands on our talented players and of course, the appalling cost that is incurred by parents with talented players. The National Youth Champonship tournaments for U15G, U17G, U14B and U15B is already a concern - the number of games to be played is too small in number for the cost and time away, and significantly, the Technical Asssessment compenent that featured so prominently and sucessfully in the U13G and U13B earlier this year (and also the NTC Challenge), was scrapped (for lack of interests??????) by the FFA for the U15G and U17G held recently. If its reinstated, what does that say about Womens' Football - that the FFA thinks its second rate? Is that it? Shame on them if it is. There is no excuse good enough!

We close with a short description by Clive Mackillop, ACT State Coach of Referees, on the difference between "Serious Foul Play" and "Violent Conduct".

Next week the NPL will do a "Futsal Special", including an interview with Capital Football Futsal League Manager, David Lee. Don't miss it!

Friday, August 6, 2010

If there is one problem that besets junior / youth teams it is their inability to defend. Too many coaches simply don't seem to know how to coach it and don't coach this aspect of the game. It catches up with the players and team performance suffers.

This might help.

It's time to learn how to defend!

Surrounding an opposition attacker with most of your team is a pretty effective defensive tactic when your players are four, five or six years of age.
But as players get older, and a little wiser, it becomes less effective. A defender who used to win 95% of tackles by simply running at an attacker and taking the ball by force, suddenly finds the ball is being passed around them and into the back of the net.
If this is happening to your defenders, you need to explain that a little more subtlety is required. It's also time to show them that they need to work together if they are to stop the other team from scoring.

Before moving on to the nuts and bolts of team defending, let's demystify the jargon.

First defender - The player on your team who is nearest to the opposition player with the ball (the ball carrier).

Second defender - The player on your team who is next nearest to the ball carrier.

Third defender - This is a bit of a misnomer. The third defender isn't one player, but all of your players (apart from the first and second defender) who are between the ball carrier and your goal.

The top two teams are separated by for / against, and there is one game still to be played (10 Aug10). The rest is as previoulsy reported - the big question - who will be the third and foruth placed teams for the finals?

Capital Football advise the following:Summary of 2010 Changes to Futsal Laws of the Game

This document is aimed at providing a quick reference guide for players, coaches, team officials and venue managers with regard to the changes made to the FIFA Futsal Laws of the Game – 2010, based on the 2008.
Many of the changes bring some of the philosophy of football to futsal. This should enable football players to more easily adapt when moving to futsal. This document was created by NSW Futsal Referees Association (Scott Kidson) and endorsed by the Futsal National Coach, Geoff McGuiness.

MAJOR CHANGES

1. The match is now allowed to start when both teams have three or more players

LAW 3 - THE NUMBER OF PLAYERS
Players
A match may not start if either team consists of fewer than three players.

To have the Futsal Laws of the Game consistent with those of football a match can be started with the minimum number of players required to continue a match. Should a team have less than three fit players at any time during the match, the match is abandoned.

2. The sliding tackle has been made legal

This means that a sliding tackle is assessed in the same way as any other challenge. If a sliding tackle is careless, reckless, or carried out with excessive force, it is a direct free kick (and disciplinary sanction where appropriate). Any tackle that endangers the safety of an opponent should be sanctioned as serious foul play.

It is always good to remind players that "getting the ball" alone is not enough for a tackle (any type of tackle) to be considered safe. The referee is obliged to assess if the way in which the tackle was carried out, including actions that follow contact with the ball. If an on-ball tackle is followed up with the player continuing on through the opponent, the referee can consider the challenge to be careless, reckless or excessively forceful.

3. The ball crossing half-way does not allow the goalkeeper to touch it again now

LAW 12 - FOULS AND MISCONDUCT
Fouls penalised with an indirect free kick
An indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team if a goalkeeper commits any of the following four offences:
• controls the ball with his hands or feet in his own half of the pitch for more than four seconds
• touches the ball again in his own half of the pitch after it has been deliberately kicked to him by a team-mate without an opponent playing or touching it
• touches the ball with his hands inside his own penalty area after it has been deliberately kicked to him by a team-mate
• touches the ball with his hands inside his own penalty area after he has received it directly from a kick-in taken by a team-mate

LAW 16 - THE GOAL CLEARANCE
Infringements and sanctions
If the ball is in play and the goalkeeper touches the ball again (except with his hands) before it has touched an opponent (except if it has accidentally touched another player in his team):
• an indirect free kick is awarded to the opposing team, to be taken from the place where the infringement occurred (see Law 13 - Position of free kick)

The goalkeeper cannot receive the ball back in his own half, in general play or after a goal clearance, unless it has touched an opponent. It is allowed for the goalkeeper to receive the ball deliberately in the opponent’s half before it has been touched by an opposing player.

This program is broadcast on 2xxfm (98.3mhz), Tuesday 27 July 2010 at 7:00PM through the Australian Community Radio Network.

In this program we have a "fireside chat" with Heather Ried, CEO Capital Football. There is always a lot going on in Football and Futsal and Capital Football has a lot of "footballs in the air"!

The subjects covered are the Review of the High Performance Program and who is going to undertake this sensitive assignment, the Review of the Men's State League Competition, forthcoming Summer 20s, and Women's Football in the ACT and Canberra United.

But that's only one half of the interview!

In the second installment, which will be made available through the Nearposl Local as a Podcast, Heather will speak on other very important matters - the broadening of the Captial Football Futsal Premier League to include youth mens and womens, together with an very innovative approach to the selection of junior age ACT Futsal teams to compete at the Nationals in 2011. There is a review in progress covering the Discipline and Disputes regulations and finally, a very interesting discussion on the key resource issue currently limiting the development of football in the ACT region - the availability of suitable grounds - all the year. No grounds, no growth and less development and a game that is expanding!

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“Soccer is as much art as science. The game should be played attractively as well as effectively. Soccer is a game of skill, imagination, creativity, and decision making. Coaching should not stifle, but enhance those elements. Neither should politics or alternative interests.” Bobby Howe, former U.S. Soccer Director of Coaching